


Curiosity Killed the Animator

by RiYuYami



Series: Pulling Strings [23]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Henry experiences death. Again., Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 02:50:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13378551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiYuYami/pseuds/RiYuYami
Summary: The old studio continues to be full of surprises for Henry, surprises that just get worse and worse with each new one.Why is there even a giant Searcher anyway? Joey, what were you doing here these past thirty years?





	Curiosity Killed the Animator

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the lack of writing lately, I was busy by being in the hospital for a week cause of a combination of diabetes and influenza, creating a very deadly cocktail of John going into a small coma and having to be taken to the ER just after getting back to his dorm. 
> 
> Fun way to start off the new school semester, right?
> 
> But anyway, here’s a story for you guys. It’s Henry fighting the Searcher Boss, cause why not? Not like I’m actually gonna fight that fucker (fifty hits with the axe kills him, but he gets to take two swings at you and you die, what a big middle finger to the player).
> 
> I know that you can only get the switches revealed after you get the second axe from Grant’s office when you go to collect the ink hearts, but for the sake of this story, and because I don’t give a rat’s ass, Henry runs into the switches earlier on in this.
> 
> On with the fic!

If, last week, someone has told Henry that he would be fighting a giant ink monster in a toy factory at his old place of work, he’d probably laugh at them and tell them that they were nuts.

Well… that’s what was about to happen now, so… hm. Maybe he should listen to the walls and take a hint that it’s time to believe.

It had been by total accident that Henry found the switches in the toy workshop. While wandering around with an axe, after finding it hidden in Grant Cohen’s old office, he had noticed something strange in the shop when he went looking for more of those damn thick Searchers. After his nap, which resulted in one hell of a strange dream, and a weird way to wake up, Henry had decided to continue his mission of collecting thick ink.

However, finding the thick Searchers was not an easy task, they startled easily and often vanished, ending up somewhere else. He’s spent way too much time chasing after them, and it didn’t help that he often encountered the normal Searchers, along with the Butcher Gang. Of course, “Bendy” was also wandering around, so that didn’t make hunting any easier. The syringe was a terrible weapon, not as bad as the plunger, but it wasn’t much help for him as he carefully, quietly walked the halls.

So now Henry carried the syringe and the axe, which he found to be a much more useful weapon.

As he had wandered around, trying to find those larger ink creatures, he had ended up back in the toy workshop. Something caught his eye, a reflection from the dim light, behind some boards. Peeking through a small space, Henry had found something odd inside. It had looked like a switch, but he couldn’t tell for sure.

With his new axe, he had sliced through a few of the boards, surprised that it wasn’t just one switch, but actually three. Did they power something in the area? Carefully, Henry checked his surroundings. He saw no Toons or ink creatures, nor did he hear “Alice” or “Bendy”. So, for the most part, he was left alone to his own devices.

Henry’s mother use to tell him that curiosity killed the cat, especially whenever he got himself into some sort of sticky situation that was his own fault. He was never very good at keeping the cat alive, he thought to himself as he reached out, pulling down the switches one at a time.

The first did nothing, except give him a small shock from being activated after what could have been years.

The second made the building rumble a little, as if something was flushing through the ink pipes way too fast. Ink spat from a few spots in the walls, some of it even leaked out of the machinery in the shop. If Shawn was (is?) still here, he’d probably be furious about his workspace being a mess. He never did like having to clean up someone else’s messes.

The third switch, though… it made Henry tense up when he heard a horrible gurgling sound from the large room where the toy factory started.

Having rushed out to the other room, Henry watched in shock as the ink in the fountain began to bubble and morph, a large hand splashed out and slammed onto the wooden floor. It was followed by another, before a large head appeared. It looked like a Searcher, but much larger than one should be. It was clearly three times the size of a normal one, and it looked much stronger than one as well.

It let out a horrible moan as it seemed the blindly look around the surroundings. Carefully, the animator walked down the steps to get a better look at it.

One creaky step is what led to Henry to where he currently is now, running around the room with a giant Searcher swiping at him.

Hitting it with the axe did little to stop it from trying to attack, and the syringe is a freaking joke, so why bother with it? Henry gasped as he dodged another strike, ink splattering about, matching several other spots on the floors and walls where the creature had tried to hit him.

A stumble in his step caught Henry off-guard, just long enough for the Searcher to swipe at him. The human screamed until it was cut off quickly when he slammed down hard on the ground, the air knocked right out of him. He was temporarily paralyzed, body twitching in agonizing pain as Henry tried to breathe.

This was horrible, it reminded him too much of the battlefields, of the landmine that had sent him flying, had earned him a purple heart and an almost amputated leg. He was having trouble seeing, breathing, there was a ringing in his ears and the strong taste of copper in his mouth.

The Searcher moaned loudly over the ringing, approaching the fallen man, not caring that he wasn’t fighting anymore. Henry continued to gasp, trying to get his lungs working properly again, but it wasn’t exactly easy when his heart started to beat wrong.

He saw the familiar warning lines on the floor and he cured his luck, shit, of course all that yelling and banging around would catch the Ink Demon’s attention… great, he was either going to get crushed to death by a Searcher, or he was going to be slaughtered by his cartoon.

Either way, this was a gonna be painful…

The Searcher raised its giant fist, ready to slam down, but it froze up just seconds from its fist making contact with Henry’s damaged body. It shook, inky lines crawling up its body slowly, as “Bendy” walked down the stairs.

Henry panted, finally able to get some air into his lungs, though it burned like hell. He wondered how broken his body was, everything hurt like the dickens, as if he was broken in more than one place. Considering the blood pooling out of his mouth, he was probably bleeding internally…

He groaned, looking at “Bendy” as the demon limped down the stairs carefully. There was a strained grin on “Bendy’s” face as he approached the Searcher, reaching out with his gloved hand to touch the inky creature.

The Searcher seized up, frozen, before it shook violently. Like many small ones and Butcher Gang members in the past, this monster became unstable by the touch of the demon. Henry watched with wide eyes as it melted into a giant puddle, washing over him. He closed his eyes and mouth quickly, waiting to open them when the ink had settled.

He coughed hard and tried to sit up, his body screaming in protest at the pain. He collapsed on his back, clutching his chest. “F-fuck…!” He gasped, god damnit, they were broken, crushed, he was gonna die here from that one attack if “Bendy” didn’t kill him first.

Speaking of… green-eyes looked up at the cartoon, who just stared down at him with that same grin on his face. “Bendy” slowly crouched down, the grin growing slightly as he reached out with his more human-like hand. Henry flinched as he felt the cold, wet hand on his face, feeling “Bendy’s” fingers trail too close to his mouth.

No, no, this is like before, when he crushed his neck…!

Henry gasped, coughing hard as blood came up, making the demon pull his hand away. “Bendy” made a curious sound, watching as the human started to spasm, more blood coming out of his mouth as he started to black out. The last thing Henry saw before things began to go black was “Bendy”, ‘staring’ was him with his smile twitching slightly.

Then the pain stopped.

\--

“Bendy” snarled as he looked at Henry, whose body stopped moving, his eyes closed as more blood pooled out of his mouth. As if he was going to let that Searcher kill his human, no! One of Joey’s ‘side projects’, a giant Searcher… what a joke! Look what it did, Drew! It killed Henry!

Well… not on “Bendy’s” watch, he thought as he shoved his fingers into Henry’s mouth, pumping a squirt of demonic ink down his throat like he had done earlier. The ink that surrounded them began to take Henry, making the human vanish quickly into the dark abyss. Getting to his feet, the Devil Darlin’ moved up the stairs as fast as he could, making his way to where he knew a statue of him sat on this floor. He got to the statue as a puddle of ink began to bubble up from the floor.

Reaching in, “Bendy” moved his inky hand about until he grabbed something that felt solid, humanoid. He yanked hard and threw Henry to the floor, the human coughing hard, clutching at his chest as he tried to breathe in air. “Bendy” took this as his time to quickly escape, vanishing into the shrinking puddle, as if he hadn’t been there at all.

Henry laid on the floor, spitting out ink as he sat up, rubbing his chest. It felt… sore, very sore, but nothing felt broken. He also didn’t cough up blood, so that was… a plus, he supposed. He sat there for a moment, listening to the machinery in the distance, the dripping of ink. He could just hear his mother’s voice in the back of his head, telling him that age-old saying of curiosity.

“Heh, too bad I was the cat today…” He laughed ruefully as he tried to stand. He wondered… how did he survive this time, did “Bendy” do it again? Or did sheer, dumb luck save his sorry ass from dying of blunt force trauma? Either way, he was gonna have to be more careful, who knows if he can survive a third attack like that?

END

**Author's Note:**

> “Bendy’s” not gonna let anyone or anything kill Henry except himself.
> 
> I’ve mentioned in previous one-shots that Henry dies twice so far in this series, once by “Bendy” and once by Searchers, but I decided to change that last one to the boss battle with the Searcher Boss cause, uh, holy shit? Seriously? Two hits and you die. Henry wasn’t exactly expecting that battle for a number of reasons, so it was a perfect chance to kill him again.
> 
> And once again, he is saved by “Bendy’s” ink, considering that ink is the only thing I can really think of that is keeping this old bastard alive. Plus, my au, my rules. 
> 
> I also hinted to Henry having another dream, it’s not another dream with Bendy and “Bendy”, but… well… when I get to writing it, you’ll see what I mean.
> 
> I’m running out of ideas to write, so I’m opening up suggestions for ideas until chapter four releases. If you’ve got an idea for this series you’d like to see, you can message me and I’ll see what I can do.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
